BMW Brings 1-Series in India To Rival Mercedes A-Class

. This is a discussion on BMW Brings 1-Series in India To Rival Mercedes A-Class within Indian Auto Sector. Part of The Auto Talk category; German car maker BMW's first hatchback offering -- the new 1 Series -- will be unveiled this September.
Developed on ...

German car maker BMW's first hatchback offering -- the new 1 Series -- will be unveiled this September.

Developed on the same platform as the 3 Series, the new 1 series has been codenamed as F20. The details including images were released recently. The 1 Series has hatchback, coupe, and convertible body styles. The small car, which will be available in India, will be both three-door and five-door versions. Reports suggest that once the BMW 1 Series comes to India it is going to be priced somewhere in the range of Rs 14 lakh to Rs 15 lakh (Rs 1.4-1.5 million). Initially BMW 116i and the cheapest diesel version 116d are expected to arrive followed by the frugal 116d ED.

Once in place, BMW 1 Series will offer car buyers an option against Ford Focus, Volkswagen Golf, Mercedes-Benz A-Class and Audi A1. All these cars are, however, unavailable in India now. Based on the initial information available, let's talk about the features of the BMW 1 Series that would woo Indians. In order to make the 1 Series roomy besides making it more stable at high speeds, the dimensions of the new 1 Series have been extended. With the new dimensions, the 1 Series has 20mm more legroom and around 10 per cent more luggage space inside. The 1 Series is powered by four cylinder engine except the 130i which has six cylinders. Similarly, all the 1 series cars have 2L engines except for 130i which has a 3L engine under the bonnet.

The engine line up for India is expected to be two petrol engines and three diesel versions. Petrol driven 116i has a maximum output of 136bhp, the 118i has 170bhp at the same rpm. On the other hand the diesel version base model 116d outputs 116bhp, the 118d is a 143bhp car while the 120d outputs 184bhp. The 130i has the highest maximum output of 258hp at 6600 rpm in the entire series. It is also a possibility that BMW will bring in the 116d ED diesel engine that has a sub-100 g/km CO2 emission. The 116d ED engine outputs 116bhp and has only 99g/km CO2 emission with 27 km/l mileage. The suspension of the 1 Series uses more aluminum making the car sturdy and light in weight.

All the BMW 1 Series cars are rear wheel driven and come with a six speed transmission gear box. The 130i wins the speed test with a top speed of 250 km/hr while the petrol and diesel cars have a top speed of 200 km/hr to 238 km/hr.The five-door 116i takes 9.8 seconds to catch 100 km/hr speed while the diesel 116d reaches the mark in 10.2 seconds all beaten by 130i that zooms to 100 kmph in just 6.1 seconds. Reports have also come in that BMW is in the process of making its 1 Series more frugal with the introduction of 1.5-litre, three-cylinder turbocharged engines in petrol and diesel.

These engines will be for the first time mated with ZF eight-speed automatic box. The 1 series shares various components such as MacPherson strut front and multi-link rear suspension with the 3 Series. The powerful models are expected to be introduced later. The new BMW 1 series is the newest creation of design chief Adrian van Hooydonk who has been recently elevated as the group design head. Among other design changes, the bonnet has been further extended to make it more prominent by pushing the cabin back. The front has a new look akin to the new concept. The kidney shaped grille has been reworked slightly and have been brought forward a bit. The headlamps add new texture to the front styling by being slightly sunken. The shoulders are more prominent as compared to the old model and the tail lamps have been placed at the extreme rear end.

BMW's Efficient Dynamics takes form in 1 series as well. Automatic start stop function, gearshift indicator, low friction tyres, brake energy for battery recharge, power save modes besides and cruise control are some of the things to look for in the 1 series. Besides, 1 Series also has parking assist, night drive assist, lane drive assistance and collision warning systems. All standard models of 1 series come with iDrive and digital display screen.

Well i feel still the Indian market will not be ready to buy a hatch for 15Lakh. Our Indian mindset is like i will be getting a much bigger car like Cruze , Altis , Jetta , Laura etc for that money why should i buy a hatch?

But seriously i feel its worth it , better than buying a Bettle which costs even more!

With the bulging upper middle class, I am sure there will be many takers for this one. People at some places just love to show off, even though those machines are just used for reading newspapers at the backseat.

I doubt this bit of news coming from CarDekho.com. A new BMW 1-Series, all said and done, can never be priced as low as Rs.14 lakh. Not a chance. I expect prices to be somewhere around Rs.18-20 lakh ex-showroom, for the 1-Series is still a BMW and you have to expect a premium of sorts for even their entry-level car. Not to forget, the new 2012 BMW 1-Series looks way too boxy for my tastes. Heck, the rear is almost similar to a Volkswagen Polo! A picture for reference -

AMG, I don't know about the cost of the 320d Corporate Edition where you live, but in Mumbai, the 320d CE costs, as near as makes no difference, almost Rs.30 lakh. The Rs.20 lakh price I've quoted MAY be the OTR price. It may even be the ex-showroom price. You never know. What I can definitely assure you that it's not gonna cost peanuts (i.e Rs.14 lakh). Or any other nuts for that matter.

EDIT : Forgot to mention that the new 1-Series is still REAR-WHEEL DRIVE. It will never be as cost-effective as a FWD car. So there goes another chance of it being priced even mildly competitively.

Guys the problem is you have confused the ex showroom price with OTR prices. Bmw 3 series corporate edition costs Rs.24Lakh ex-showroom only , OTR like Amaan said it comes close to Rs.30Lakh in Chennai! So the 1-series for Rs.15Lakh must most probably be the ex-showroom price which when comes to road would be costing well above Rs.20Lakhs.

Yes it loses its exclusivity a little because Bmw will be getting common on roads as its getting more affordable. And yes like you mentioned most of our people would not be knowing the difference between the 3 series corporate edition and the highline variant. Now if a 3 series corporate edition pulls next to a highline variant , wont the highline variant feel dejected , afterall he spent that few extra lakhs for that exclusivity!

Hey buddy if features is what you are looking for then you must be knowing a Passat or a Superb has more features than what an A4 , C-Class and 3-series have and available at a much cheaper price tag. So IMO the reason why people buy Bmw , Merc and Audi is just for the brand value , exclusivity ,status symbol and nothing else. So what's the point now if more and more people are going to have your car , your car will no longer be special on the roads!